A Philosophy of Strength and Health

"Pudgy" Stockton was the first woman accepted by the popular press in the US as a weightlifter and female strength athlete. She was a regular with her husband on Muscle Beach in the 1940's and contributed to Strength and Health with her "Barbelles" column. She died at the age of 88, from complications related to Alzheimer's. At 5'1" and 115 lbs, she amazed audiences with her feats of acrobatic strength. She was also the first female owner of a gym and organized the first AAU-sanctioned weightlifting meet for women in 1947. At this meet, I believe she pressed 100 lbs, snatched 105 lbs and clean & jerked 135 lbs. Thank you Pudgy for making a muscular physique, weight training, weightlifting and strength acceptable for women.

My logo contains the “tag” phrase: Awareness, Alignment, Mobility (changed from Movement), Strength. In my mind and experience, these are the building blocks of physical health and performance. Today I spent about 75 minutes with a client working specifically in lower extremity mobility and teaching him some static postures (stretches) that will help him gain mobility. We began with discussion of some functional anatomy—which muscle are two-joint muscles and why it is important to address each joint when working on the extensibility of a particular muscle/muscle group. We then worked on proper alignment for optimal execution of the posture—foot position, pelvic position, lumbar spine position, etc. This type of detail, along with body awareness to perceive it, is imperative to development of functional mobility. If you aren’t cognitively aware of what you are trying to accomplish (education) and you cannot self-correct through proprioceptive awareness, then you cannot...

Check out this post on www.diseaseproof.com on protein Joel Fuhrman, MD. Dr. Fuhrman gives a great overview of the many protein myths in the popular press and in general. He also lists peer reviewed citations for those looking for more indepth information. And yes, you can achieve better health as well as improve performance with plant protein as your only source. Stop sweating the macronutirents (fats, carbs, protein) and focus on foods high in micronutrients and you'll be just fine.

Here's a great post by Garr Reynolds of the Presentation Zen blog. He does a nice job of summarizing Guy Kawasaki's "Art of the Start" presentation and gives links to the video. For anyone thinking about putting new ideas out in into the world, these guys have some great advice. The link to the Dilbert Mission Statement Generator is terrific too. Thanks Vern, for the inital link to Guy Kawasaki. It's helping me keep the Bozo factor low these days!

Well, I'm celebrating my one year anniversary as a vegan! The journey has been fabulous. Once a big steak-eatin' and milk-drinkin' person, I have completely revamped my eating behaviors. I'd like to share a few thoughts and answer some of the typical questions people ask me: 1. What do you eat? The better question might be "What don't I eat?" I don't eat any meat or dairy, and I also eat a bascially gluten-free diet; that means little to no wheat and very few grains. I steer clear of high fructose corn syrup, trans fats, processed anything--especially grains--and no artificial sweeteners. I no longer drink any sports drinks either. Okay, so I eat a ton of fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. I have rice, brown or white, occasionally and I'll partake of rice noodles too. Still have my coffee in the am and will have a glass of wine or beer ocassionally. I don't eat bagels or cereal. These dietary changes have freed me from seasonal alle...

"Training for strength and flexibility is a must. You must use it to support your techniques. Techniques alone are no good if you don't support them with strength and flexibility." -Bruce Lee from Bruce Lee: The Art of Expressing The Human Body by John Little Just picked this gem up last night, along with Bruce Lee: Artist of Life , also edited by John Little. Both books are compilations of Lee's personal writings and letters. The Art of Expressing The Human Body specifically addresses the evolution of Lee's complimentary strength training for jeet kune do. "Yee Mo Faat Wai Yao Faat/Yee Mo Haan Wai Yao Haan"

In that never-never land of almost awake and listening to the early radio alarm, I heard a great commentary by a local St. Louis businessman, Bob Vecchiotti. Read it here . This ditty hits home with me because over the last year, it has come to my attention (with much angst), that a former colleague and partner has been using materials (video, photos, even ideas) in written work and presentations without acknowledging me. In a little over a month, this individual will speak in front of a national audience; and I will be there in the audience to see if he uses any of my materials and truly is "forthcoming" with credit. We'll see what happens.

In preparation for this year's Tour, my friend Sandy lent me her video of the 1996 Tour. The winner is Bjarne Riis--current Director Sportiv of the CSC team. It is fantastic. For all of you cycling geeks, here are some of my favorite highlights of this video so far: 1. The Big Mig, Miguel Indurain, pops in his attempt to win a 6th Tour. He is a very large cyclist, compared to many. Very interesting to see him next to the smaller cyclists. 2. Bjarne Riis is the team leader for Telekom. This 1996 version of Deutsche Telekom has one very fast Erik Zabel in the green jersey and in his first Tour, a very young Jan Ullrich. 3. Johan Bruyneel, the current mastermind of the Postal/Lance/Discovery juggernaut, rides off the side of a mountain and reappears to be no worse for the wear. He is, however, about 40 pounds lighter than he is now as DS of Discovery--skinnier than heck! 4. "Big" Lance Armstrong (yes, Phil refers to him as big in this race) quits early in the first week of t...

Made it through the first day of weight training camp. There are over 50 guys in this session--that's way too many for actually learning much, but I'll do the best I can. I am thankful the varsity football coach invites me to help. I doubt there are very few women who teach weight training camps at boys' schools. And it establishes respect for me from day one with these student athletes; they know when Mrs.-Coach Fober is in the house, they'd better do it right. This picture is from a few years ago. I use it to show exactly what is "wrong" about trying to teach weightlifting related movements in big group settings--to kids who need lots and lots of remedial work. The room is a bit more organized now, but you can see the platforms stink; they are built from the BFS model. The bars are not optimal, but like many high schools, the kids make do with what they have. Sometimes it kills me that I cannot have more of an impact. Give me a couple thousand bucks and I...